


I'll find my way back home

by salvatorestjohn



Series: Six Days of Ficmas [5]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Parent Caroline Forbes, Snowed In
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:20:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21938857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salvatorestjohn/pseuds/salvatorestjohn
Summary: Her shoulders sink down as she tries to think, but she's drawing a blank. With both doors snowed in and the power out, there isn't all that much she actually can do. The thought makes her heart drop. Her flight leaves in two hours. It's Christmas Eve."Caroline," she hears Enzo say from somewhere beside her, his voice soft and comforting, but distant. His hand reaches out to touch her shoulder, but her chest is too tight and her throat is aching.
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Lorenzo "Enzo" St. John
Series: Six Days of Ficmas [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1575109
Kudos: 7





	I'll find my way back home

"Okay," Caroline says with a grin, walking out of the bathroom, "I have booked the tickets. The plane isn't delayed as far as I'm aware, which is very. And we have two hours to spare before we need to be at the airport, which is thankfully only ten minutes away."

She lowers her phone and looks over at Enzo, standing by the window. Her face falls at the sympathetic, forlorn expression he's wearing. It's such a Stefan expression that she's surprised to see it on him, and honestly, it's a little unnerving.

"Oh no," she says before he can even open his mouth. "What? Why do you look like that?"

As she asks, it registers in her head that something's not right. Her eyes dart around the strangely dark room. She had been sure that all of the lights had been on before. And Enzo had been watching TV while she got ready. She even heard it while she was in there.

"Why are all the lights off?" she asks slowly, the answer already creeping up her spine with dread and sinking in her stomach like it's got a hook attached. 

Enzo sighs. He takes the edge of the dark curtains designed to keep out the light, on the off-chance that something happened to either of their rings. He pulls it back. Caroline's stomach drops all the way now and her heart along with it.

"It's snowing," she says flatly.

Not just snowing; it looks as if there's nothing else outside but a blanket of white, nearly impossible to see through it as it falls from the sky. She crosses the room in three quick strides, joining Enzo at the window to look out in hope. But all getting a better look does is deflate it. 

The ground isn't even visible. The buildings that she knows surround them are barely able to make out, but she can tell every roof is covered. The snow's even sticking to the window, a thick layer of it sitting on the very edge of the outside sill. Not a single car in the street below has moved. Probably because the snow has come up past their wheels.

"No," she breathes out, her eyes wide. "No, no, this can't be happening."

"Power went out just now," Enzo says, and waves a hand at the window. "I called down to reception to check what happened, but they're saying it's because of the snow. By the sounds of it, it's a city-wide blackout."

"City-wide?" Caroline repeats, her head whipping around to stare at him, her heart pounding in her ears. 

Enzo nods, his solemn expression only growing. It takes her a second, but then her eyes widen further and the dread sets in. She quickly looks back down at her phone, the airline's website still open.

"Please don't be delayed, please don't be delayed," she says while refreshing the page. 

The little circle goes for too long, then it freezes. Up pops the disconnected notice. She checks for the bars at the top of the screen but there are none. No signal.

"Well, that's not a good sign," Enzo sighs. "Flights probably delayed, and that's best case. I don't know how long it's been snowing for, but I'm guessing a while, and if the engines have cut because of the cold and the blackout, they won't be allowed to take off at all for at least another five hours, give or take."

Caroline's brow creases, her eyes darting to him in confusion.

"I used to be a pilot," he explains. "Air Force. From '38 to '67. Strictly speaking, not allowed to talk about it."

That raises a few more questions than it actually answers, but Caroline brushes them aside, her focus too wrapped up in this mess. 

"Well, we should go down to the airport, right?" she says. "To talk to someone there, make sure that it's not cancelled?"

Enzo nods without hesitation. "Sounds good. Do you want to grab the bags in case it isn't? Save us a trip back."

"Yeah, that's actually a good idea," she agrees. 

They both spring into action, Enzo disappearing into the bedroom while Caroline hurries to pull her coat on, already moving for the door. Enzo is back in the blink of an eye and she takes some of the bags from him. They leave and head for the stairs, the elevator out of order with the power down, as well as every light lining the stairwells.

Caroline can't stop thinking the entire way down. Too many worries, and trying to figure out what she's going to do in a worst-case scenario, and she might have to call Alaric if it comes to that. She really doesn't want to have to do that for too many reasons.

They reach the dark lobby, the only light shining in through the glass panels on the doors, the outside strangely bright yet grey. Caroline falters at the bottom of the stairs. They don't seem to be the only ones in a panic; the lobby is packed full, people standing around or occupying the plush red couches and chairs. All looking pretty put-out.

Enzo's gentle hand on her elbow drives her forward, and they wind their way across the room until they're standing by the desk. There are a few other clustered around it, talking away to the young girl who greeted Caroline on her first night. Though she looks distressed, her voice is calm as she seems to try and assure them.

Caroline sets her keys down on the desk, ready to just get the hell out and onto a plane. Hopefully, in a few hours, she'll be landing in Richmond and back in Mystic Falls in no time. 

"Uh—I'm sorry, but I really don't think you should leave," someone calls to her as she's already walking away. 

She stops, turning back around as her stomach twists. Enzo's barely moved an inch from the desk, and they share a confused look.

"The snow," the other woman behind the desk explains, looking sheepish but concerned. "It's been going all weekend, but last night was the worst we've seen. No one can get in or out, and the roads aren't safe. It would really be better if you stayed in here for now."

"Thank you, but we really need to go," Caroline says, shaking her head. "We have a flight to catch in two hours, and we would rather be there early with all of the snow."

"That really isn't—"

"Really, though, thank you for the stay!" Caroline continues, not listening to her protest as she's already walking again, her urgency to leave growing with each second that she stays. 

She turns back around, and she can hear Enzo following behind her, offering up some quick goodbye to the woman. It's met with one last weak protest. Caroline doesn't falter again, simply crossing over to the door, dropping her bags, and pushing it open. Except it doesn't open. It stays firmly in place even with her hand wrapped around the handle and pushing. 

Dread claws its way under her skin again, draping across her shoulders like a freezing cold lazy cat trying to get her attention. 

She gives another firm push, using a little more force this time. Most doors usually fly open when she does that, her vampire strength kicking in. And she can feel it now as well. But the door still isn't budging.

As she stares at it in confusion now, she realizes that the bright, grey light from the outside isn't being caused by the sun hiding behind thin snow clouds. But by the snow itself. She also realizes that what she had thought was tinted glass, obscuring anything outside, isn't that at all. 

She feels Enzo on her right, hears the quiet sigh as he stares at the door along with her. "We're snowed in."

"No," she says firmly, her throat closing up, because this cannot be happening. "I refuse to let a few feet of snow stop me from leaving here. The door just needs a little—"

She grits her teeth as she pushes even harder to a point where any normal door would have already flown off its hinges and probably cracked in a few places. The snow outside is too high and too thick and there's nowhere for the door to go except into it. All that would do is let the snow inside and mean she'd have to figure out how to dig her way through it. 

"What about a back entrance?" she asks, spinning back around to stare over at the woman who tried to stop her. 

She shakes her head, looking apologetic. "The snow's too high, it's apparently filled the entire street. The back door will be—"

"Will be blocked as well," Caroline finishes, having realized a second after she asked. She nods slowly.

Her shoulders sink down as she tries to think, but she's drawing a blank. With both doors snowed in and the power out, there isn't all that much she actually can do. The thought makes her heart drop. Her flight leaves in two hours. It's Christmas Eve.

"Caroline," she hears Enzo say from somewhere beside her, his voice soft and comforting, but distant. His hand reaches out to touch her shoulder, but her chest is too tight and her throat is aching. "Caroli—"

"I, uh—I need a minute." The words tumble from her mouth in a rush as she pulls away from him. 

She offers nothing else before making for the stairs, keeping her head down as she crosses through the lobby. It doesn't register that she's walking up the stairs until she's already cleared an entire flight of them in the blink of an eye. Her feet are moving without instruction, just taking each stair as she tries to stay calm. 

Maybe it's not as bad as she thinks. Of course, she's never been snowed in before, but maybe it'll melt fast. Maybe there's some way for her to still catch a flight today. _Maybe, maybe, maybe_. It's all hope and desperation and when has that ever gotten her anyway? It's gotten her killed, literally, and watched her friends die over and over again, and it's gotten her disappointment after disappointment.

Maybe she'll be able to get home in time for Lizzie and Josie's birthday. Maybe she'll actually be able to find a way to stop the merge. Maybe she'll be able to go to her mom's grave without breaking down all on her own this time. Maybe things won't hurt so much the further away from Mystic Falls she gets, or the longer it's been. Maybe she has to stop fooling herself into believing all of that. 

Her vision is too blurred to properly see where she's going, so she just walks, not taking count of the number of stairs. Tries not to think. Because if she thinks, it'll be about Lizzie and Josie, and not being able to even tell Alaric this time, and how it'll be the first Christmas she hasn't gone and sat in the cemetery. So, she shuts her brain off for once, focusing on how hard her heart is beating against her ribs, crying right alongside her. 

She faintly registers a number eight on her left and continues down the hallway. Ten, eleven, twelve. Last door on the right. She goes to it and tries to push it open, just needing to get out of sight so she can calm down. But the door, just like the one downstairs, doesn't move. The keys.

Frustration pokes and prods, tugging at her. She clenches her jaw tightly and leans her forehead against the wood, closing her eyes against the burning in them. Tears still escape all the same. Her heart is pounding in her ears, too loud. All she can do is draw in a breath, trying to slow it. Everything in her wants to just break the door down. She could do it so easily. 

She stands there for a moment. The silence is almost a comfort on its own. Breathing becomes a little easier, but she's still shaking, and she's about a second away from just collapsing to the ground, and she doesn't even care. Instead of waiting for it to happen though, she swallows, drawing in one last shaking breath before pulling herself away from the door. 

She glances down the hallway with blurry eyes, blinking rapidly to try and clear them. They latch onto the door at the end of the hall to her left. There's a little sign reading _fire-escape_. 

Deciding it can't hurt to at least give it a shot, Caroline walks towards it. She sucks in a deep breath, telling herself to remain calm, and reaches out, pushing at the bar on the door. It actually gives way, to her surprise, and she freezes for a second. Then she pushes it further until it's opening the entire way. 

Her lungs feel as if they collapse with relief, the rest of her following. The cold air bites harshly at her skin, only wearing a thin coat that really wasn't made for this, but she still steps out onto the fire-escape anyway. There's only a thin layer of snow beneath her feet. Glancing up, she finds more stairs above her, sheltering her own. 

Relief starts to sink in for just a second, a breathless smile starting to form. Then she quickly lets go of the door and moves over to the edge of the stairwell, looking down below. Her heart plummets all over again, right over the edge of it and into the mountain of snow beneath her. Somehow, she had thought that maybe it wasn't as high as she was imagining.

It's a good few feet away from her, leaving the fire-escapes untouched, but the street below is barely even a street anymore. All of the other buildings are snowed in, too, only the top levels really visible on the two-stories. Every car is just a strange white, unrecognizable shape. It's as if an avalanche just fell over the entire street in the middle of the night without anyone noticing. 

Reality hits her like a freight train. It's still snowing, and there's no chance of that much melting enough for her to be able to leave. The plane might take off without her, or it might not even get to take off at all. Either way, she won't be on it. She isn't going home. Not anytime soon, anyway. 

Her grip on the rail tightens then loosens, and she lets herself slip down until she's sitting, her legs aching. The burning is back in her eyes. She doesn't try and fight it this time, her flicker of hope suffocating like a tiny flame in a jar. The tears fall as her chest constricts tightly and she lets her head drop into her hands. 

She just sits there, barely noticing the snowflakes that find their way onto her skin and into her hair. Each shaking breath in is too fast and makes her lungs burn like they're freezing over and seconds away from shattering. Her heart's already beat them to it. 

The sound of footsteps reaches her sooner than it might have had her hearing not been supernaturally heightened. She pays them no mind, even as they make their way down the hallway towards her. The fire-escape gives a welcoming clink as she feels the metal shift slightly beneath her. She doesn't bother to move, keeping her head lowered and her face buried in her hands. 

"Thinking of jumping down and trying to walk across it?" Enzo asks from her right, sitting beside her on the stairwell. His tone is light, joking, one that she hadn't quite realized she'd missed all these months. 

She sniffs, sucking in a deep breath that only makes her chest hurt, and lifts her head up. She keeps her eyes straight ahead, staring at the buildings stretching out in front of her as far as she can see before the snow makes it impossible. 

"The thought crossed my mind," she admits, cracking a slight smile. "With vamp speed, we could probably get to the airport just in time. Compel a pilot if the flight's cancelled." She looks at him, blinking once or twice to see him better as she pulls a teasing look, nudging his shoulder. "Or we could just get you to fly it. Captain Lorenzo."

Enzo chuckles at the emphasis she puts on his name. It eases a little bit of the twisting in her stomach, her smile a little more genuine as she watches him duck his head for a moment, nodding slowly with a smile of his own. 

"I actually didn't go by my right name back then," he tells her, and she raises her eyebrows, but he shakes it off. His eyes and his smile turns sad as he gazes at her. "I'm sorry about all of this, Caroline. I know you wanted to be on that flight."

She did. She _needed_ to be on it. Lizzie and Josie are counting on her, were counting on her, and now she's probably going to have to let them down. Again. She had told herself she would be there for the holidays, especially after everything that's happened with them lately. 

"It just wasn't supposed to be like this," she says, shaking her head. "I was only supposed to be gone a few months. I wasn't—wasn't supposed to miss their birthday, or Christmas, or—" She clamps her mouth shut, her throat aching like it's made of sandpaper. "I just wanted to be there."

There are only so many holidays she's going to get with them. Even without the merge, she was always going to outlive them, and she's hated the thought since the day they were born. But it's so much worse now. 

"They have six years left," she says quietly, her voice shaking and her chin wobbling. "And I am running out of options. I just—I just wanted to be there, you know? For one holiday, at least. To see their faces light up on Christmas day. To watch them just be happy, without having to worry about any of this, to just—to just be there with them, as a family, and I—I just wish I had my mom because I am so lost and I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

She breaks down completely, sobs wracking her body in a matter of seconds. Enzo's quick to hug her, his arms wrapping around her as she closes her eyes against the tears and all of it. It's too much, too overwhelming. Everything hurts too much and she hates it, and why does this keep happening? Why can't something just go the way it was supposed to, why can't she be allowed to be happy?

"It's alright," Enzo murmurs into her hair, one hand stroking her back, her face buried in his chest and hands clinging to him. His voice cracks ever so slightly, and he tries to clear it. "Let it all out, sweetheart. I'm not going anywhere."

She can't begin to express how much relief the last part brings her, even if it fills her with so much dread as well. Everyone who promises they aren't leaving her finds a way in the end. Even the immortal ones. She just hugs him tighter, letting herself believe it for this one moment, because she needs this. She needs him.

They just sit there. She doesn't know for how long, but Enzo never once stops talking to her, his voice soft and soothing, and slowly easing the bubbling of pain and guilt and too many other things that are tearing her apart from the inside until it's a gentle simmering. Her sobs turn to sniffles, the tears eventually drying, the shaking in her body turning to shivers. 

Enzo pauses, and she can't see him but she can feel his chin move from her head and assumes he's looking at her. "Cold?" he asks her with concern in his voice.

Caroline huffs out a soft laugh that holds the smallest fragment of humour. "Freezing. So much for vampires being immune to everything."

Enzo chuckles along with her, one of his hands moving to her arm, rubbing through her thin coat. She curls in closer to him.

"We still function as human beings," he reminds her. "Even we're not immune to frostbite. Immune to dying from it, yes, but getting all of the symptoms of it where our hands go numb and can't move, unfortunately, no. Probably not the best idea to be sitting outside in the coldest weather of the century."

Caroline hums her agreement. Her throat is still aching, rubbing raw every time she talks. 

"Here," he says.

She feels Enzo move and pulls back slightly to look at him. Her eyebrows furrow in confusion as he produces a scarf seemingly out of nowhere.

"When you came up here, I was going to follow you but figured you'd end up on the balcony in our room," he explains as he winds it around her neck, adjusting it to wrap it around and back down. "But then I remembered the key, and I saw the door coming out here open. You've always had a thing for being outside when you're upset."

Despite all of the crumbled, broken pieces inside of her, she smiles a little. He pauses, checking to make sure the scarf looks okay. She just gazes at him as he gently moves a few strands of her hair until he pulls his hand back. Alarm rises in her as he begins slipping his arm out of his own jacket.

"What are you doing?" she asks him as he takes it off. 

"You need it more than I do," he simply says. 

Caroline starts to protest, but he's already wrapping it around her shoulders, seemingly unfazed that he's now sitting in the middle of a snowstorm in nothing thicker than a flimsy long-sleeved t-shirt. 

"But you just said—"

"Darling, I meant you're not immune to the cold," he cuts her off, shaking his head. He has a faint smile as he adjusts the jacket, pulling it closed around her. "I've endured much worse than a chill. Trust me, I'm perfectly fine. I can barely feel the cold anymore."

Caroline's heart sinks. It always does when she knows he's referencing his past in Augustine but trying to veer around actually saying it. She watches his face as he continues playing with the jacket, and then the scarf, making sure they're both just right enough to keep her warm. 

"I'm glad you're here," she tells him softly, making his hand falter and his eyes move back up to hers. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You would get through this," he says, completely serious and sincere. A ghost of a smile settles on his lips once more as his eyes soften, his hand still hovering next to her, a few strands of hair between his fingers. "You would be upset, but you would pull yourself together, and you would find a way to get on that plane. Even if it meant you had to march right through this snow and demand that the plane takes off otherwise you'll fly it yourself if you have to."

Caroline can't help but laugh softly at his exaggerated tone, his intentions clearly to make her do just that as his eyes sparkle with a flicker of happiness. She knows he's right, of course. It would feel so much harder if she was here all alone, stranded with little hope of getting home in time for Christmas, but she wouldn't stop trying to find a way to make it happen. She can't stop trying. 

She sighs, wiping her eyes, feeling the dried tracks on her cheeks. "Well, it's a good thing you're here then, because putting me in control of a plane definitely wouldn't get us home."

"Nonsense," Enzo says, grinning, wrapping an arm back around her shoulders. "You'd make a damn good pilot. With some supervision."

"Oh, high praise from an ex-captain," she jokes, then pauses. "It is ex-captain, right?"

Enzo nods, sighing from the back of his throat with a slight smile."Yes. That whole part of my life is in the past."

Caroline just nods back as he shifts to lean back against the wall behind him, pulling her closer. She settles against his side, tucked under his arm, her head on his shoulder. There's no hope of the snow stopping any time soon, and by the looks of it, they don't have much of a reason to be in any rush anymore. 

A beat passes, silence falling over them like the snow blankets the ground. She listens to the beating of his heart as her own finally slows back to an even pace, the anger and frustration and guilt seeping out of her, leaving her nothing but exhausted. 

"Can I at least ask what your alias was?" she asks softly, her curiosity poking at her as she looks up at him with a slight raise of her eyebrows. 

Enzo glances at her, then smiles. He huffs out a soft chuckle from his throat. 

"Michael Quinn," he answers with a strange raise in his accent, slipping from the gruff, charming British one she's used to, to a slightly softer American one, making her eyebrows shoot up, then furrow in confusion. He gives another laugh and his voice goes back to normal. "I adopted a completely different identity back then. Faked an accent, pretended to be American. It was easier to blend in."

"That makes sense," Caroline agrees, but can't quite wrap her head around the idea of an American Enzo, even if just for an act. 

"I started off a pilot a few years before World War One began," he continues, to her surprise. "By '42, I was made a Captain of the US Air Force. I ended up working with the government. Shocker, I know."

Caroline can't help but agree on that as well. "I thought you weren't allowed to talk about this?" she questions. 

"Well, considering all of the people I worked with back then are more than likely dead now, I think I'm safe," Enzo says, shrugging. 

Caroline nods slowly. His logic makes sense, she supposes. And if he thinks it's safe to talk about then who is she to argue? It's not as if she wouldn't like to know more about this secret part of his past. As far as she was aware, he was just a soldier in world war two. 

"So, the government?" she asks, twisting around in his arms and resting her chin on his shoulder. "What, did they have some shady secrets? _Oh_ , did it involve alien conspiracies? Please, Captain _Quinn_ , tell me this story has aliens."

Enzo laughs, and it makes her feel a little more at home for a brief moment. _This storm will pass,_ she thinks. In all senses. She'll call Alaric, somehow, and let him know what's going on if he hasn't already been filled in. They'll work something out. She will find a way back to Mystic Falls for Christmas, even if she does have to compel someone to fly home or risk driving through the snow. 

"It actually does," he says, to her surprise. "Quite a few. I couldn't believe it either when they recruited me for Project Blue Book and made me work with some random scientist, but the things we saw and discovered...they were truly out of this world. Unexplainable and never identified before. Hynek—my partner on the project, the scientist—was actually the one to give them the name UFOs."

Caroline blinks, her eyes growing. "Wow. That's...amazing. And really confusing."

"It truly was. " There's a strange nostalgic sadness to his voice that Caroline only recalls hearing when he talks about Damon and their past together. He's even got the same far-away glint in his eyes for a moment before he snaps out of it, turning his head to look at her. "But we can talk about all of that on the plane that we are definitely catching."

"You think we can get through the storm and make it on time?" she asks, doubt slipping into her voice. "What if the flight's cancelled?"

Enzo scoffs, his mouth stretching into a grin as he shakes his head. "Did you not hear a word I said? If we have to compel someone so be it, or I will happily fly it myself. Trust me, I've flown while aliens have been trying to distract me and managed to not crash. I will do whatever it takes to get you home to Lizzie and Josie."

He sounds so sincere and determined when he says it and as he looks her in the eyes. Caroline believes him, and it's just one of the reasons she loves him as much as she does and more. She nods slowly, a smile forming on her lips. 

"How do you feel about jumping across the roofs to get to the airport?"

Enzo's grin brightens, his hand settling on the side of her neck. His thumb strokes along the bottom of her jaw as he arches an eyebrow.

"I feel like it's a fantastic idea, darling," he says, his eyes softening as he gazes at her.

Caroline knows that it's probably a terrible idea, realistically, but the fact that he's all in with her just makes her heart grow with love for him. She can always count on him. No matter what. 

She leans in and he meets her halfway without even thinking. Kissing him is one of the most therapeutic things, she's discovered in the last few years. He's able to draw the tension and the worries and the cluster of thoughts that won't let her think straight for just a second out with his lips, so soft and distracting and kissing her so tenderly that it's impossible not to focus solely on that. 

It's brief, but Caroline doesn't mind too much. She has the rest of her immortal life to kiss him as much as she likes, which she very much does. He smiles at her with those same lips and it's so easy to just let go for a second and get lost in the moment. Then he motions his head to the side and she gets the message.

"Come on, love," he says, pulling back and starting to stand, offering a hand out to her that she happily accepts. "We're not gonna let being snowed in and a little bad weather stop us. Time to go home."


End file.
